5 more days (only 2 business days) left to help us win a $25K challenge grant.

The Donate-O-Meter

Streetsblog Chicago is currently in the thick of raising funds for our next year of publication. Once again, The Chicago Community Trust, a charitable foundation that was one of the early funders of SBC, has very generously offered us a challenge grant. If Streetsblog reaches $50K in donations and sponsorships by the end of May, the Trust will provide the last $25K needed to keep the site running into 2017 and beyond.

If you’ve already contributed, thanks so much for helping us win the challenge grant. As an added incentive to first-time donors, as well as those who’d like to make an additional contribution, anyone who donates $100 or more from this point on will get a copy of John’s book “Bars Across America.”

Donate $200 or more and we’ll also throw in a copy of the anthology “On Bicycles,” to which John contributed a chapter about Chicago’s West Town Bikes, while supplies last.

Please feel free to spread the word about the challenge grant to potential donors, or contact me at 312-560-3966 or greenfieldjohn[at]hotmail.com with leads on other possible funding sources. To keep you apprised on our progress, we’ll be updating the above Donate-O-Meter along with Today’s Headlines each morning.

That Trib article about the train/car crash at Rockwell completely left out that the driver of the car went around the gates because she thought they were just down for testing because trains “normally go choo choo”. Seriously.

She admitted fault… was she ticketed? License suspended? You can just disrupt train service and send people to the hospital with no reprimand…?

Chicagoan

DNAinfo’s coverage is deplorable, too. They didn’t mention that the conductor had to go to the hospital for injuries. She thought the gates were down for a kind of test.

Pat

I’ve always wondered who pays when things like this happen. Any damage and/or overtime required to clear the tracks should be borne by her and her insurance.

When a car crashes into a guardrail on LSD and requires it to be replaced, who pays? I have a sneaking suspicion it’s the taxpayer.

david vartanoff

idiot driver should be sued for damage to the train, health care for the injured train operator. and license suspended for a year.

Chicagoan

I’m glad she’s okay, but my word, her behavior was quite moronic.

She put the lives of others in danger, as well as her own.

david vartanoff

About the #10: It is CTA’f job to connect riders to the Museum. Rather than shaking down the Museum, CTA should be distributing bus schedules to hotels to drum up more ridership. Even I who love MED, tend to use the #10 if I am in the Loop because it comes more often.

asdf

The 6 comes even more often! But it can be completely packed.

Fred

Illinois just doubled the fine for going around the gates so this should never happen again, right?

planetshwoop

I often wonder how much of parking fees is a revenue source for museuems.

Is the #10 a coverage route or a ridership route? It sounds like it is a coverage route that does not meet the standards for a ridership route. As a coverage route then it needs to compete against all the other coverage routes based on the criteria that coverage routes are judged.

It sounds as if the CTA does not believe that the #10 deserves to be included in its coverage route budget. In that case asking to Museum to pitch in is quite appropriate in my view.

david vartanoff

The ideal would be the MED restored to 15′ headways in base day (from AM to PM rush which covers the Museum’s hours). and extra runs of the 55 as a shuttle from the Electric to the Museum. (assumes that the Gray Line/ Gold Line fare integration of MED). As a marketing ploy for tourists, a one day pass good for either the Pullman or MSI including transport at a combined price. Maybe a discount coupon with hotel registration? FWIW my perspective comes from multiple hours at MSI as a youth during summers when visiting the relatives in South Shore. Whenever I talk to anyone planning to visit Chicago, I recommend MSI as the most important place to go.

I confess to ignorance about south of Congress transit and other realities. While I have lived long enough to pile up a decent enough south side resume, most of it is woefully out of date. As a high schooler I rode the el to Stoney Island to visit MSI (Museum of Science and Industry, yes?). In college I used the 63rd street station of the IC on occasion. To earn money for college I worked at a factory at 60th and Western and took the el to the end of the line at Loomis. And around those times I occasionally used the IC (MED now yes?) to get to 47th street to visit a friend. It truly saddens me to see so many stations gone and headways way too often an hour.

I recently had the chance to drive around the 31st street area between the lake and the green line. How disheartening to see so much grass where there ought to be quality urban density a la Jane Jacobs.

So I guess I am totally with you in spirit for your thoughts on the kinds of things to do south of Congress transit wise.

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